


Talking in the Family Group Message: The Story of Louise Healy-Ritter

by elizabethvaughan



Series: Braindead Alternate Universe (From Season Two on) [1]
Category: BrainDead (TV)
Genre: Also please know this "series" we keep posting has no official order yet, F/M, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 18:15:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8171149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabethvaughan/pseuds/elizabethvaughan
Summary: With that thought, he walked off back to the bedroom to send the photo to the family group message.--One shot based on upcoming AU story; Don't have to read to enjoy, however.





	

It was just past three in the morning when Gareth awoke to find Laurel missing from their bed. He was immediately concerned, thinking of several possibilities as to what had happened. It came back to him all at once though, there were no more space bugs, no threats to them that they could not handle. In fact, the only thing that Gareth was worried about the lack of Laurel and the lack of their daughter’s usual nightly crying. Louise, their third and youngest child, was often referred to by their family members as Laurel’s “mini-me”.  
“Honestly Gareth, she reminds me so much of Laurel at that age.”, Liz, his now mother in law, explained to him as he was picking up Louise one afternoon. “In fact, Laurel had us up every night crying as well.”  
Before he could ask Liz anything about baby Laurel’s temperament, Laurel called him from Luke’s office, and informed him of how Charlotte and Jacob apparently got sick of waiting for him after school and ordered a pizza to the house. Which he then had to be paid for.  
Getting out of the bed, Gareth went straight for the nursery. He knew that Laurel had most likely gone to settle Louise, but that was usually a very rare occasion. In fact, with both Charlotte and Jake, Laurel barely ever woke up when the kids got restless. Not that he minded, he enjoyed getting up to spend time with their children. When Charlotte was born, Laurel would always joke about how Gareth was already as proud as an Indiana soccer mom.  
“If I hear you say “Have you seen how cute our daughter is?” to one more by standing hill staffer, I will personally remove every photo from your phone.” She had said to him one day after walking into Luke’s new office and seeing the staff gathered around the iPhone. Though he had mellowed out a bit, he still showed pictures to anyone who wanted to see the beautiful ray of light he helped bring into the world.  
As he walked into the nursery, he was genuinely shocked to find not only Laurel and Louise asleep on the couch in the room, but Laurel holding the little baby to her chest, hugging her securely in her arms.  
“Well,” He thought to himself, “this is a rarity.”  
He took out the phone which had once been threatened and began to take a few pictures. He knew that no matter how mad Laurel may get, he had to capture this moment. Two of the most important girls in his life together and asleep was probably one of the most adorable things he had ever seen. They even had the same facial expression.  
Looking at the two, Gareth realized just how similar they were. Even though Charlotte shared most of Laurel’s physical traits such as hair and eyes, her freckles were reminiscent of his sister, not to mention her personality, which strongly favored his own. Jake took after him the most of them all. Their son not only had his hair and signature smirk, but also shared his eyes and facial features. With Louise however, she may have had a little poof of his blonde hair, but other than that, if her personality continued to develop as her grandmother predicted it would, she really was a mini Laurel. He silently hoped she wouldn’t have her mother’s sense of picking arguments, but he made a quick note to not make that joke to Laurel herself.  
He walked up to the girls and covered them in a blanket. Laurel would be furious if he showed anyone that photo, but it was too cute a photo not to share. With that thought, he walked off back to the bedroom to send the photo to the family group message.  
When Laurel woke up, she had a sore neck and a baby on top of her. Stretching out her back, she made sure not to disturb the small child she was holding. As she started to get up off the couch, she could feel Louise starting to wake as well.  
“Oh, here we go.” She thought to herself, but surprisingly, Louise was calm. So much so that it slightly unnerved Laurel. She would have even checked her ears, had that still been an immediate threat. But thankfully the bugs were long gone, and all that was left was her and her friends' leftover anxiety from the ordeal.  
Laurel slowly made her way out into the living room of the apartment with Louise, and then quickly realized what time it was. Gareth had apparently decided to let her oversleep their alarm. Of course he had gotten the kids to school, but now she was late for work, and still had to drop off Louise with her grandmother. As Laurel brought little Louise with her as she ran around the house getting ready, she was going to call Gareth to rant, but made another revelation. She had left her phone in her office last night.  
“Well this morning can’t seem to get any better, can it Makana?” Laurel asked the infant. She often referred to Louise as the nickname she had given her when they were alone. Looking down at her for a moment, she remembered why she had come to call her daughter the Polynesian word for gift.  
It was Gareth’s birthday, and they were making dinner for the kids when she told him. While Jake had been planned, much like her sister, Louise was not. In fact, that made it all the better to get a rise out of Gareth. He was the over emotional one when it came to the kids since he’d been raised on the idea of having a perfect, little, loving family back in farm country. He had been chopping onions at the counter when she tapped him on the shoulder and tossed him the test in a “heads up” manner.  
“Happy Birthday” was all she had said before turning her back to fill a pot at the sink. He looked from the test to her, and in a matter of seconds choked out her name before starting to cry. Gareth had walked over to her, and wrapped her up in a hug from behind, sobbing into her shoulder while she continued cooking, deliberately ignoring him. From the other room, she heard her onlooking children talking.  
“See, this is what happens when you let Daddy cut up onions.” Charlotte explained to her brother, not quite understanding the situation. This of course had caused Laurel to break her silence and start laughing hysterically, eventually to the point of tears. She turned around to face him, wiping her eyes. The kids had gotten bored by this display of affection and had left to watch TV, which left just the sniffling couple embracing each other.  
“Look, I know you’re happy right now, but after this no more. I’m serious. After this one, I’m done, and I don’t care what I have to do to ensure it stays that way.” Laurel had informed the still crying Gareth, as he laughed and held her tighter.  
Laurel smiled as she finished the memory, grabbed her keys, and left to go give her daughter to her oddly giddy mother to watch her.  
\----  
Arriving at her office, she greeted Luke and apologized for being late, but for some reason, he just laughed and told her it was fine. He walked away laughing, and in that moment, Laurel knew something was off.  
She had heard her phone buzzing before she had even fully entered her office. But unfortunately, she had gotten caught up in work right away, and didn’t check it. She figured it was news alerts, or that maybe she was put into another group message of filmmakers by Jake in LA, who much like Luke, was very humbled she and Gareth had chosen to name their son after him. She wouldn’t dare break his heart by saying they got the name from Gareth’s late grandfather, so she told him what he wanted to hear.  
When she finally got to check during a break later that day, Gareth later swears, that in that moment when she reached her phone, he could hear the Kill Bill sirens that probably went off in her head.  
“76 New Messages from The Family group”

3:17 am: Gareth: (Image of sleeping wife and daughter) 

4:45 am: Rochelle: Okay Gareth, that is seriously cute. 

5:09 am: Luke: are you sure that’s Laurel and you didn’t just hire a body double?

6:33 am: Gustav: Now where would he get a body double of Laurel? Do they even sell those commercially? Wait, can’t you hire them nowadays?

7:28 am: Liz: My Laurel and her little Laurel!

7:55 am: Germaine: Gareth you should be a photographer this is absolutely precious

8:15 am: Nora: o h honey that is too sweet laurel looks so happy with her there love you

8:21 am: Gustav: I just checked, and yes, you can hire body doubles online. In case anyone was curious. 

8:21 am: Rochelle: No one said anything about being curious Gustav.

8:22 am: Luke: no really it was an honest question are we sure that’s Laurel

8:23 am: Germaine: Oh that’s Laurel all right! Look at how CUTE they are! They even look so similar!

8:25 am: Liz: We should have this one framed!

8:25 am: Gustav: In case anyone asks I had nothing to do with it

8:26 am: Luke: yeah mom, if you like a slow and painful death at the hands of your own daughter then by all means, go for it

8:32 am: Liz: Oh Luke stop. It really shows her love for Louise!

8:35 am: Germaine: She really does love that kid though Gareth ;)

8:35 am: Luke: yeah man. I think this time she finally had one she likes enough to keep around. 

After those, Laurel scrolled down through the many other texts, horrified as to what had occurred throughout the morning. Her relatives and honorary family discussing her actions. All talking about how she acts so tough, but when it comes down to it is just a big softy with her kids. How she had insisted she had never wanted kids, but now was so glad she had them. How cute the picture was mentioned over and over and over. The one person who hadn’t said a word, besides sending the start of the madness, was Gareth.  
“I married a man smart enough to know when he’s got danger coming his way.” Laurel thought to herself, as she stormed towards the Republican offices.  
\---  
He knew what was about to happen before she even entered his office. Gareth stood up immediately upon Laurel barging into his office and pulled his hands up in self-defense.  
“I’m not going to whack you, you dumbass.” She spits out viciously, making her way over to him. He quickly jumped into explaining himself.  
“Laurel please it was too cute of a moment not to-”  
“To share? In the family group? Where what may have just been a “cute moment” developed into a strung out conversation of my life decisions? No how could that have ever even occurred to you? It’s not like you’ve know these people for years now.”  
“Laurel come on, you know they mean well.”  
“Gareth, come on. ‘You know how they are’” She replied, mimicking his whiney tone. “You know what, forget it. You clearly aren’t able to see the problem here.” She said, beginning to exit the office angrily.  
“Laur,” Gareth started, moving to block her exit. She stopped and turned her head down, not meeting him in the eye. He reached out, and gently grabbed her shoulders.  
“Please Laurel, I was just trying to capture the moment I saw. An adorable moment between my wife and daughter. Who wouldn’t want to keep that with them forever?” She sighed deeply, and looked up at him once again.  
“Gar, I know how much you care, and how much you want to keep these memories for as long as you can, but you know where I’m coming from here. Don’t even act like you don’t. I would have been absolutely fine with the photo, had you not shared it with everyone who knows us enough to have an opinion on me as a mother.” Gareth took a breath in and realized that this conversation clearly was not what he had thought it to be. She didn’t care about the picture, she was upset because she didn’t want anyone to judge her parenting.  
“Hey, you have to know that nobody in our family thinks you’re a bad mom.” He started softly, assuring her to that fact. “Hell Laurel, you make it look easy, especially when you never even wanted them in the first place. Not many parents can say that. And yes, I know you think you may let that fact become apparent to them, but I can tell you honestly that I have never seen someone care as much as you do when you’re around them. You’re the best wife I could have ever imagined, a wonderful mother to our adorable balls of joy, and I could never stress enough how much I love you.” He concluded.  
She stared at him for a moment, before looking away once again and giggling softly. He was confused until she looked back up and said, “You are such a sappy fucking romantic.”  
He knew she had changed the subject, much like she usually did when things got serious, but for now, everything was back to normal, and they were happy. He chuckled in agreement, wrapping her into a tight hug. She held him back, and the two remained like that for several moments, in a calm silence.  
Then Gareth’s phone rang.  
“Daddy, there’s no snacks here.” Charlotte complained as her parents listened on. “When will you and mommy be back?”  
“We’re heading home soon Char.” Laurel told her daughter.  
“But we’re hungry now.” Jacob commented from the background. Honestly, Gareth can’t say Louise is the only one that took on bits of Laurel’s personality.  
“We’re leaving now to go get Louise from grandma’s, and then we’ll be home.”  
“I have a better idea.” Charlotte said, and the couple heard a drawer, which they presumed to be the one with the take out menus being opened.  
“Charlotte no! We’re coming home-”  
“Sorry daddy, I have to make another call now.” She said as she hung up the phone.  
“God-DAMNIT” Gareth said, as Laurel just sat back in his chair and laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> So my friend and I have been working on a whole strung out future/continuation AU story, so the one posted last night and this one are a part of that. So while she primarily wrote the last story, and I this one, we figured to put it all onto her account to keep it orderly. Our Tumblrs are @Elizabeth-vaughan (Winona) and @AnnaBlissHoA (me, Abby).


End file.
